The political party founded by Côte d’Ivoire’s slain former military ruler General Robert Guei, the Union for Democracy and Peace in Côte d’Ivoire, decided on Thursday to pull its two ministers out of the government, its secretary-general, Alassane Salif N’Diaye, said.
Côte d’Ivoire’s main opposition party, the Rally of the Republicans, said earlier on Thursday it was pulling out of the unity government set up under a January 2003 peace pact, after security forces violently quashed a demonstration against President Laurent Gbagbo.
”We have signed the Marcoussis accord,” said N’Diaye, referring to the French town where the agreement was penned last year.
”We have stood by (the president) so far. We wanted a peaceful march but it was quashed as everyone knows. That’s why we are suspending our participation in the council of ministers.”
Côte d’Ivoire’s junior minister for transport, Anaki Kobenan, a member of the MFA party, has also left the government, his aides said, after 30 people were reported to have died in violent anti-government protests. – Sapa-AFP